Gary Cook Photography, LLC

Racket Tailed Roller with Grub

Rollers are crow-sized birds that are widespread throughout the old world, many coming from India, Africa, and parts of Europe. Rollers get their name from the rolling action of their flight when they are chasing their insect prey and when displaying to each other during the mating season. Pictured here is the Racket Tailed Roller. They are such cute birds with sharp intelligences. Their legs, however, are unusually small and weak compared with most birds. This tends to make them appear to be settled very low on branches, adding to their "comfortable" looking stance.